Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Home Town Yong Tau Foo Of Ampang

Mention where to find the best Hakka yong tau foo(morsels of poached tofu and vegetables, all stuffed with smooth fish paste) in Malaysia and chances are high that people would suggest you to try out Ampang's yong tau foo.

This area that used to be an old little Chinese village in Kuala Lumpur, is particularly famous for yong tau foo, which is basically originated in the early 1960s in a restaurant called "Chew Kuan". Back then, the dish was just simple tofu stuffed with a meat paste of fish and pork that earned the dish its name "yong tau foo", which translate "stuffed bean curd." Since then, a large variety of vegetables and even fried fritters followed the same stuffing style, and the name yong tau foo has thus been used liberally to apply to foods prepared in this manner (from Wikipedia).

Meet Danish, the number-one fan of Ultraman haha!

I had a meet-up with Kak Junaidah in Kuala Lumpur during my spring holiday last March. Honestly speaking, I can't really recall how we got to know each other, but it was something like through some exchanges of comments in Facebook. We knew each other through a mutual friend (whom I have forgotten who was that haha!), if my memory serves me correctly.

During the meet-up, Kak June's husband and her little warrior, Danish tagged along too. We wanted to go to Pantai Dalam for our dinner initially, but since we couldn't find any parking spot, we ended up driving all the way to Ampang to have yong tau foo instead. Even though the journey was more than forty minutes, we had great chat along the way on various "hot" topics, which I will not disclose here *hehe*

Home Town Yong Tau Foo near Ampang Point.

Kak June was born in Tawau, raised in Tenom in Sabah for ten odd years until she finally made a move to the Peninsular in Serdang and Sri Kembangan. She comes from a mixed parentage, just like me. Her Mom is a Chinese Muslim while his Dad is a Japanese Muslim. That is why she looks very much like a Chinese amoi, minus the sepet eyes.

She teaches Japanese language in local universities and from there, you should see now how we are connected.

"Okay, I will be the one who make the order today."

"Lets see what stuff I can eat. (Reminder to ownself: No vegetable, please)" haha!

"Hey, listen to me! I want this!

Danish in full concentration with his drink.

Playing with the lamp Papa bought for him.

Attempting to be MacGyver to disassemble the parts haha!

Home Town Yong Tau Foo is owned by a Chinese lady and the setting is pretty simple, just like any other Chinese kedai makan. One interesting fact however, is that the food here is halal; you can tell that from looking at the customers who dine at the place. You will notice that the majority of the patrons there are Malay, but there are also Indians and some foreigners who eat at this restaurant.

Besides, there is a halal logo on the wall, which should give a further reassurance that there is no problem for Muslims to eat here.

One thing that will always bring Malaysians of all races together - f.o.o.d!

The types of yong tau foo served at Home Town Yong Tau Foo is more to Chinese style as seen in its menu. The sambal is not too bad too, and it is served together with a sweet brown sauce called hoisin sauce that is pure Chinese style. One downside about this place however, is the limited choices in the menu. There are some common dishes you will usually find when you are having yong tau foo, were missing from its menu and that gave us a slight disappointment.

Kak June and her husband, Abang Shahril made the orders and I was quite shocked when I saw the amount of food when they were served onto our table. I think they knew that I was going through "local-food-homesick" syndrome haha!

Our dinner at Home Town Yong Tau Foo.

Clockwise from top left: Huge bowl of assorted yong tau foo in a tasty stock made from boiled fish bones, soybeans and vegetables; a platter of mixed fried wantons, filled with fish paste, crunchy Chinese water chestnut and sweet grated carrots, which goes perfectly with the sweet sauce and chilly sauce; and side-dishes of stir-fried Chinese broccoli (kailan) and Romaine lettuce (yau mak) in oyster sauce, topped with crisp, golden-fried chopped garlic, and fried chicken wings.

Finally, a photo of us before we left the place, taken by one of the workers, who was so excited when we requested her to take our photo haha!

Danish didn't really look happy here because he had to take a break playing with his Aladdin lamp lol!

Not a single piece of yong tau foo left on the plates, which tells you they are really good!

@ nik zulkhairi:i cannot confirm if this restaurant is halal or not (it could be just rumours spread by its competitor), but i believe it would be best if the right authority to make an inspection and issue a statement on this matter.